The Irish standard., 1887-02-19
Near Here Dwelt O'Oonnell at the Climax
Of the Great Struggle TOR
Catholic Emancipation.
PRINCE PuCKLER MUsKAN'S
Vivid Description Of the Lberator's s
Wonderfully Picturesque Sur
roundirgs at Derrynane.
(From the N. Y. Evening Telegram.)

in the present distressful condition of
Ireland, money paid to preserve the
personal memorials Of the great Liberia
tor, is well applied to patriotic use,
and we should like to hear of larger
subscription to buy the estate and
maintain it after the fashion of Mount
Vernon. Popularity it bears the name
of the Abbey, but the true ruins of the
clerical structure are on an island close
in the neighborhoo which is accessible
on foot at the ebb of tide.
Here dwelt O'Connell at the climax
of the struggle for Catholic emancipa-
tion, and it is surprising that no his
torical novelist has availed himself of
the wonderfully picturesque subject of
his surroundings at Derrynane at that
period. The most vivid description Of
them that has come to our notice is
from the pen of the celebrated Prince
Puckler Muskan, who visited the Lib
orator there by invitation in September,
1928. O'Connell had been returned to
to Parliament from County Glare in the
previous June, and the agitation occa-
stoned by his refusal to take the test
oaths was at it's height throughout the
United Kingdom.
In a letter home to Germany, written
at Derrynane under date of September
%, the Prince described his adventures
in reaching the Abbey from the village
of Kenmare, which he left on horseback
with a: guide at 8 o'clock in the after.
noon, disregarding O'Connells advice
that the proper approach was from Kill
larney. Soon they were beset by a
furious storm of rain, and the guide for
sock him in search Of poteen. After
crossing the bridge of the Blackwater
he struck into bride-path which fol-
lowed the crags along roaring sea.
Darkness settled down. A passing
peasant was taken UP behind the horse
man and piloted him through a chasm
where he was bathed up to the elbows
in the salt water of rising tide. A
little way beyond, the saddle.girths
broke, and the luckless Prince. after
vainly striving to balance himself upon
his weary beast, stumbled on foot along
goat path, where the guide overlook
him when he was we'll nigh in despair.
Six miles more of painful passage in the
swift darkness, fordlng two deep and
dense mountain torrents in his course
brought him at last ito the gate of an
ancient building standing on a rocky
shore. just as the tower clock was
striking eleven" In response to the
knocking of the half drowned and
frozen wanderer, the doors were flung
open by servant bearing silver candle
sticks, and he was suddenly ushered
into a brightly lighted hall where
O'Connell sat at the head Of long
table bearing wine and dessert, sur
rounded by the ladies of his family and
and attended by fifteen or twenty re-
tainers. Father L'Estrange, the Lib
erator's confessor, whom the Prince on
acquaintance styled his ideal of a well
intentioned Jesuit was prominent
member of the company. After the
Prince changed his clothing and re-
turned to the hall the ladies withdrew,
and all who remained seem to have
made a long night of it.
The martial dignity of O'Connell's
bearing struck the Prince, during the
visit, as the distinguishing feature of
the external appearance of his host.
He wrote that O'Connell Clocks much
more like general of Napoleon's than
a Dublin advocate, and this dignity is
rendered still more striking by the per-
fection with which he speaks French. y
In mental qualities his wit and his per
suasiveness made the most impression.
The feudal power Of command which
O'Connell exercised is described by the
Prince in the following passage, writ
ten the next day after walk to the
ruins of the Abbey with Father LES
TRANCE:
On our return we found him on the
terrace of his castle, like chieftain,
surrounded by his vassals and by groups
of the neighboring peasantry, who
came TO receive his instructions or to
whom he laid down the law. This he
can more easily do, being a lawyer.
But nobody would dare to appeal from
his decisions; O'Connell and the Pope
are here equally infallible. Law suits,
therefore, do not exist within his en-
niro md fhi7 aYtanda nnf nnlu ouor hia